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Home / News / Tags / Saturn
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This Saturday, November 21, the Cassini spacecraft will perform its last flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus, before the planet enters its winter season. Once that happens, darkness will blanket the moon for several years, and its doubtful that the space probe, already in its mission-extension period, will last unt... |
20 November 2009
05:58 GMT |
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On September 22, 2009, around the time Saturn experienced its once-in-15-years equinox, the Cassini spacecraft imaged peculiar, cloud-like formations hovering above the gas giant's famous rings. The bright clouds contained luminous ice particles, a detailed analysis of the photographs revealed. During the equino... |
14 November 2009
06:35 GMT |
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The joint NASA/ESA mission Cassini-Huygens, currently in orbit around Saturn, has recently beamed back some amazing photos of a beautiful geyser eruption that took place on the moon Enceladus. The experts who investigated the images say that the emissions consisted mainly of water vapors, bringing further proof that ... |
5 November 2009
02:23 GMT |
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Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, features a large number of rings, some of which usually experience a brief “night,” lasting from six to 14 hours. At times, however, the entire ring system is engulfed by shadows, when the planet reaches its equinox. This happens once every 15 Earth y... |
24 October 2009
06:53 GMT |
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Recent images of some of Saturn's moons have revealed strange patches of color on the surface of the five innermost natural satellites, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea. Some of the unusual patterns have been seen before during previous flights, but others are totally new, the investigators for the miss... |
20 October 2009
16:31 GMT |
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When looking at a picture of Saturn in all its glory, you can easily see that the rings surrounding it look as sturdy as they come. They are continuously replenished by debris spewing out from a number of moons and are gravitationally bound to the gas giant itself. It would, therefore, appear that they cannot be easi... |
15 October 2009
06:58 GMT |
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Experts who spent the last few years analyzing all the data that the Cassini orbiter sent back about Saturn's moon Titan dream of setting up a mission to the surface of the natural site. But, seeing how most of it is covered in an ocean of liquid hydrocarbons, landing a rover could prove difficult. Therefore, it... |
14 October 2009
09:04 GMT |
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Since the Cassini spacecraft sent back images showing the freezing moon Enceladus, around Saturn, spewing out vapors of water, the international astronomical community has entered a frenzy, and also a heated scientific debate. Some scientists argue that the observations prove there is an ocean of liquid water under t... |
13 October 2009
09:44 GMT |
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The image most of us have of Saturn is that of a gas giant closely surrounded by its rings, which are very thin, yet very wide. Now, astronomers prove us wrong, showing that the planet indeed has another, massive ring around it, which extends as much as 13 million kilometers away from it, around the moon Phoebe. This... |
7 October 2009
05:40 GMT |
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Saturn has been around the solar system for a while. But, of all the equinoxes it had since its formation, it was only this one that was observed directly with a probe right on the spot, the Cassini spacecraft. It revealed new and stunning images, which show new, previously unidentified quirks in the gas giant's... |
22 September 2009
02:40 GMT |
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The orange-brownish-colored atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, surrounds the only known solar system bodies, except Venus and Earth, that have a solid surface and thick atmosphere. The hazy layer of gas covering the large rock features some peculiar reactions, as evidenced by the fact that the natural s... |
15 September 2009
11:02 GMT |
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The large gas giant Saturn now holds yet another record, this time for the longest storm ever recorded in the solar system. It began to form in the planet's atmosphere in January, which means that it has been ongoing for the past eight months. A similar formation was observed on Saturn between November 2007 and ... |
15 September 2009
03:58 GMT |
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Astronomers and physicists analyzing the data relayed back by the Magnetospheric Imaging instrument (MIMI) aboard the Cassini spacecraft have recently discovered a new, transient radiation belt around Saturn. Located some 337,000 kilometers away from the planet's core, the belt is located roughly around the moon... |
14 September 2009
19:01 GMT |
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Ever since the 17th century, when Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered that Saturn had rings around it, astronomers and astrophysicists have been trying to come up with a plausible explanation for how they were formed and why. To this day, the answer has eluded them, and each new scientific find about the pl... |
24 August 2009
16:51 GMT |
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The Cassini-Huygens mission is, at this point, one of the most abundant sources of information about celestial bodies in the solar system, alongside the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and the rovers Spirit and Opportunity. A decade ago, the space probe was last seen orbiting the Earth, as it made a fly-by to boos... |
19 August 2009
05:33 GMT |
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Last summer, as experts pointed their telescopes towards Saturn's moon Titan, they noticed a peculiar appearance on the surface of the body. It seemed as if a full-scale tropical storm was underway at its equator, in a manner eerily similar to how these formations look like back on Earth. In fact, the entire moo... |
13 August 2009
02:12 GMT |
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Tomorrow, August 11, the planet Saturn will perform one of the most amazing “magic” tricks ever seen in the solar system, as it will make its enormous rings, comprised of trillions of trillions of ice and dust, simply vanish and not show on any telescopes. All it needs to do this is the correct sunlight, ... |
10 August 2009
05:44 GMT |
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According to mission controllers for the Cassini spacecraft, a new object has been found lurking in one of Saturn's rings. The elusive body has thus far not been discovered because of the angles at which the probe moved around the planet, and also because the conditions were right for these types of observations... |
10 August 2009
03:48 GMT |
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Methane is a rather unstable gas when exposed to sunlight, and it is easily broken up into its organic constituents after moderate exposure times, chemists say. Finding it on other planets is an equally difficult task for the same reasons, and that is why astronomers could not believe their eyes when it was clearly e... |
6 August 2009
19:11 GMT |
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After centuries of wondering whether the winds on the distant gas giant Saturn move East or West, scientists and astronomers finally have their answer. It would appear that the atmosphere favors movements in both directions, a groundbreaking find that may help astronomers gain more insight into the properties of the ... |
1 August 2009
04:00 GMT |
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According to recent reports, it may be that the thing keeping the liquid water and vapors on the icy Saturn moon Enceladus from freezing is nothing else than a natural form of antifreeze. The most important chemical in such a cocktail is ammonia, which has the ability to significantly alter the temperature points at ... |
23 July 2009
03:06 GMT |
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Saturn's moon Enceladus is, in many aspects, one of the most peculiar celestial bodies in the solar system. Once regarded as nothing more than a ball of frozen ice and dust, it revealed itself in 2006 to be still active, and potentially even harboring liquid water underneath the surface. Additionally, its weird ... |
21 July 2009
06:39 GMT |
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Some 234 years before the planet was officially found, Galileo may have made the earliest observations of Neptune, a new study of the famous astronomer's diary and notebooks reveals. Professor David Jamieson, the head of the University of Melbourne School of Physics, made the astonishing claim, after studying in... |
10 July 2009
02:18 GMT |
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Saturn's moon Titan is perhaps the best bet in the solar system of finding life, researchers have hypothesized since evidence of liquids was found on its surface. With its thick atmosphere, albeit made of gases that would kill humans almost instantly, the natural satellite is 80 times more massive than the Moon,... |
26 June 2009
03:46 GMT |
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The Cassini-Huygens space probe is arguably one of the most important missions NASA ever sent out into the solar system, in terms of return benefits and information accuracy. The craft has thus far managed to discover new moons around Saturn, and to offer invaluable scientific data on interesting natural satellites s... |
25 June 2009
03:39 GMT |
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Every now and then, the moons of Saturn align themselves in such a manner that they either throw their shadows on the surface of the planet, making them look like they're chasing each other, or they cast them on the giant planet's rings, creating vertical structures that are beautiful to look at. One such i... |
15 June 2009
20:01 GMT |
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J. J. Abrams, the director of the new Star Trek movie that just recently came out, apparently wanted to get all of his scientific facts right before he depicted his take on the Universe. Indeed, in one of the most epic sequences of the entire movie, the USS Enterprise, the famous ship around which the entire Star Tre... |
16 May 2009
03:10 GMT |
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Researchers at the Stanford University have come up with a new study, which sets forth the idea that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may host a series of underground hydrocarbon oceans, as well as mountains whose tops are below the average height of the planet. The paper detailing the finds will be published in an... |
7 April 2009
05:40 GMT |
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The Hubble Space Telescope proves, indeed, to be invaluable for both NASA and ESA, as evidenced by one of its recent snapshots of Saturn, which has been photographed in a rare alignment with four of its moons. The configuration only occurs once in 14 to 15 years, and the last time astronomers and other observers were... |
18 March 2009
02:48 GMT |
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Due to a slow, but steady decrease in Cassini's main thrusters, the spacecraft's managing team at NASA has decided to switch propulsion control over to the backup set, in the aftermath of the mission's extension. In 2008, the American space agency received funds to continue exploring Saturn and its moo... |
13 March 2009
09:51 GMT |
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The International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced on Tuesday that the international Cassini spacecraft had found another moon around Saturn, this one measuring a little over a third of a mile in width. The tiny body was orbiting the giant planet in between some of the dust rings, and was therefore impossible to no... |
4 March 2009
03:51 GMT |
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Nearly four years of research data have been used by Cassini mission scientists to create one of the most complex and comprehensive maps of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, as far as winds go. The huge dunes on the surface of the planet have been believed for a long time to be the main factor responsible for th... |
28 February 2009
04:02 GMT |
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The two agencies have decided on Wednesday that the investigation of Jupiter's and Saturn's systems is worth the expense of sending numerous space probes in the area starting with 2020. Also, for their upcoming joint mission, the two most important space agencies in the world have selected Saturn's moo... |
19 February 2009
14:01 GMT |
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A paper published in the January 29th issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters confirms what astronomers have been suspecting for the past couple of years, and namely that the atmosphere around Saturn's moon, Titan, which is approximately 10 times denser than that of the Earth, is capable of producing c... |
2 February 2009
10:32 GMT |
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In one of its most recent transmissions, the Cassini space probe relayed back information confirming the existence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes on the surface of Saturn's moon, Titan. The probe was only able to identify the existence of the lakes by analyzing the changes in landscapes over periods of time, which ... |
30 January 2009
08:49 GMT |
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Mounting evidence gathered by the Cassini space probe over the last few months seems to indicate the fact that there is certainly water underneath Enceladus' icy surfaces, NASA experts say. The geysers that erupt on the moon's surface daily throw water vapors and some organic-laced ice in the air, as demons... |
19 December 2008
05:27 GMT |
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The images sent by NASA's Cassini spacecraft indicate there's a high possibility that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is subject to a dynamic volcanic activity. Instead of regular volcanoes on which we know a lot, these particular ones don't eject lava, but icy water, ammonia and methane, substances... |
17 December 2008
05:53 GMT |
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Two months ago, On October the 5th, NASA's Cassini probe came as close as 25 km from the surface of Saturn's small moon, allowing it to capture a new set of images that sparked new interest in Earth's scientists. These photos indicated that the southern polar surface of the geologically active moon fea... |
16 December 2008
11:34 GMT |
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The Cassini probe, which has been orbiting Saturn for more than four years now, has repeatedly provided series of images of one of its more interesting moons, Enceladus, which has been appointed as its new main target during the extended Equinox Mission. While looking at the geysers depicted in the photos and analyzi... |
27 November 2008
15:11 GMT |
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The Cassini probe found in Saturn's orbit has managed to depict yet another mystery of the ringed planet. The content of the most recent images that the spacecraft sent back to the Earth have startled experts again. The photographs unveiled a mysterious phenomenon occurring at the planet's northernmost lati... |
13 November 2008
05:32 GMT |
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Saturn, the celestial version of the “Lord of the Rings,” doesn't just have one ring, as many might believe. In fact, what is perceived from pictures as a single, compact ring is formed of seven distinct smaller ring divisions, labeled from A to F. The main, more massive and compact rings are (from t... |
12 November 2008
10:31 GMT |
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Although it's been orbiting Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, for four years now, the Cassini probe hasn't been able to map more than 25% of its surface, because of the atmospheric limitations, as dense fog obscures it from view. Still, together with the Huygens probe, which was sent to roam on the moon, i... |
7 November 2008
06:47 GMT |
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The Huygens probe, currently in the orbit of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has managed to send back enough data for specialists to work with. Although not everything went as expected, upon a thorough analysis, they were able to infer that the atmosphere of Titan shows signs of natural electric activity. As prov... |
24 October 2008
03:01 GMT |
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Cassini, the spacecraft that is the result of the collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, has recently discovered a giant cyclone on Saturn's northern pole, and has provided pictures of the known, similar phenomenon from the south pole in much greater detail than those previously obtained. ... |
15 October 2008
04:20 GMT |
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Enceladus, the geyser moon of Saturn, will be passed by twice this October, first on the 9th and a second time on the 31st, in an attempt to prove the hypothetical existence of an ocean hiding on its surface. The first flyby will see Cassini performing the closest such maneuver from the surface of any of Saturn&... |
8 October 2008
05:24 GMT |
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A recent study used a computer simulation in order to prove that the rings of Saturn had formed billions of years ago, when the solar system was young, rather than 100 million years ago, while dinosaurs were still alive and well. Also, the research points out that they are three times more massive than previously tho... |
24 September 2008
04:12 GMT |
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Observations carried out with the Cassini spacecraft have once again confirmed the theory that Saturn's moon Titan has lakes on its surface, after picturing Ontario Lacus located in the south pole of the body, an accumulation of liquid methane and ethane with a size larger than that of the Lake Ontario in the No... |
31 July 2008
05:26 GMT |
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Based on data relayed back by the Huygens probe, part of the Cassini-Huygens mission carried out by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency, researchers from the University of Granada and the University of Valencia have proven for the first time that the dense atmosphere around Saturn's largest moon... |
30 July 2008
08:13 GMT |
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Exactly four years ago the Cassini-Huygens mission reached the Saturnian system and entered orbit around the ringed planet, in order to make a series of observations that would astonish the world. It is probably one of the most successful robotic missions to one of the gas giants conducted by NASA and the ESA and was... |
2 July 2008
03:11 GMT |
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A team of researchers from the UK states that Saturn's F ring is the most dynamic of all other rings, since it can change its features either in only a few hours or in a couple of years, probably due to large scale collisions taking place inside it. If this is truly the case, then the further study of the proces... |
6 June 2008
02:35 GMT |
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